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2012 Review and Looking at 2013
2012 was the year of transition from a student to the “real-world.” (Has anyone every asked what real-world means?) It’s been a success.
I landed my first job working as an Assistant Language Teacher in Japan. I’m living in Osaka. I graduated in 4 years and accomplished the GPA I wanted. I met my physical goals of getting my weight to 150 lbs through weight lifting and eating healthy food. I’ve met my kanji goal of 500 kanji.
I’ve decided my theme for 2013. It will be the year of developing my Japanese and solidify my foundation as a web developer.
1. Complete Heisig’s Remember the Kanji 1 by the end of September. I’m studying about 30-40 kanji a week. I’m also studying for JLPT N4.
3. For my physical goals, I want to get my weight to 155. I’ve stopped doing weight lifting and moved to body weight exercises. I’m keeping track of my sets and reps.
4. For financial goals, I want to reduce my loans by 25% by the end of 2013.
5. For interrelationships, Kana and I are going to travel more this year. Whether that is something local in the Kansai area or farther out, we’re going to do it. It doesn’t have to be expensive. Maybe I’ll make a post about traveling inexpensively in Japan.
6. I’m taking classes on Team Tree House to solidify my skills as a web developer. What does that mean? It means I want to code. I want to make stuff. I have ideas, but I need to learn how to use the tools available to me. HTML5 and CSS3 are very powerful.
Some of you might be thinking this is a lot. That’s because it is.I’m not doing everything at once. I’m structuring my time to fit everything in. For me, a life worth living isn’t in front of the TV or computer all the time (though I am a fan of Netflix), it’s the goals made and accomplished that make it exciting. -
What I’ve Learned and Current Web Design Projects
Sometimes it’s good to just stop, take in a deep breath, and realize what’s been accomplished. It’s easy to get caught up in life, especially work, and especially if one enjoys the work.
I contracted as an independent contractor with the Missouri Small Business & Technology Department from my alma mater, UCM. It’s been a great experience working with small businesses and seeing the improvement in their web presence including their website, social networking, and SEO. But the look of happiness and satisfaction on the client is what makes my job fun. Recently, a client referred me and said “thank you so much for taking good care of us! We really appreciate it!”
Plus I got paid for it.
What I’ve learned…
- Communication with clients. Some clients do not know the concept of working remotely or some things do not assume the same things as I do. If a client is feeling flustered because a lack of understanding, I need to work at changing the way I communicate with them. Whether that is the medium I use (email, phone, skype, etc) or how much I communicate (daily, weekly, etc), it needs to be what helps the client understand and feel comfortable.
What I’ve decided to focus on…
- Web Design…not development - Color, layouts, graphics, buttons, typography, the whole deal really interests me. Of course, I can make all the wire frames, mock-ups, and final designs I want. It’s the development that makes designs real. I want to focus on one aspect of web design and become real good at it. ( I recommend watching this video…very good advice) I’m not going to throw web development out. I’ve learned HTML and a little bit of CSS. Eventually, I want to become good at HTML, CSS, and jquery.
In my free time in Japan, I’m going to work on design for the next year. After that, I’ll access myself and take the next step.
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Website Design I like #1 →
Found this website on Six Revisions . I like it….a lot. Why?
- It’s easy to navigate. Very intuitive.
- The design seems classy and professional.
- Everything blends together to create a solid experience
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Jagged Edges with a logo
Background: The company that makes Taekwondo uniforms for my dad’s business redesigned our logo a couple years ago. It looks great…except they only sent us the JPEG versions.
Problem: I want to recreate this in Photoshop so we have a PSD file for easy changes. No sweat, right? When I recreated the South Korean flag, the edges were really jagged. Is it because the pixels/inch isn’t high enough?
I’ve searched and tried as few different tutorials involving filters, but those don’t seem to fix the problem.What do I need to do to fix this?
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What I’m working on now…
HTML5
I want to make something with color….but I need to learn the basics first.
Learning something new is frustrating at times…
http://trentwalton.com/examples/CSS3_Speed_Test/css3.html
I thought of an idea though. I’d like to make a website for my Grandpa Paul. He was an automotive mechanic before he passed away. The link above kind of inspired me to make something like “Henrich O’ Mechanic” “Henrich’s Phillips 66.” (He used to own a service station)
